BARC Develops a New Method to Extract Lithium from Seawater: Why It Matters for India's Battery Future
Scientists at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), working at its National Centre for Compositional Characterization of Materials in Hyderabad, have developed a new method to take lithium out of seawater. The work was published in the scientific journal Talanta.
The method recovered nearly 90% of the lithium present in natural seawater. It uses less solvent and fewer extra chemicals than many older methods.
How it works, in simple steps: first, the water is made less acidic using sodium hydroxide and sodium carbonate, which removes over 99% of unwanted elements like magnesium and calcium. Then a chemical called dibenzoyl methane, dissolved in a solvent called methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK), pulls the lithium out. Finally, dilute nitric acid moves the lithium into a separate solution so the solvent can be reused.
Over five reuse cycles, recovery stayed at about 90%, though about 10% of the solvent is lost in each cycle and must be topped up.
Challenges remain: long-term performance, energy needs, chemical costs, industrial-scale use, foam formation during long mixing, and possible effects on marine life still need study.
India today depends fully on imports for raw lithium and for battery-grade lithium-ion cells, so a new domestic source could reduce this risk.
Lithium: Properties, Sources and Extraction Methods
Lithium is a soft, silvery-white metal and the lightest metal on Earth. It is so light that it floats on water. Its special power is that it stores a lot of electricity in very little weight, which makes it the key ingredient of the rechargeable batteries in mobile phones, laptops and electric vehicles (EVs). Because the world is moving from petrol and coal towards batteries and clean power, lithium is sometimes called "white gold".
BARC's method tackles the hardest part of seawater lithium: separating it from the huge amount of magnesium and calcium. If it can be scaled up at low cost and without harming the sea, India's long coastline could become a new lithium source. This would reduce India's full dependence on imports for EVs and energy storage.
National Critical Mineral Mission (NCMM): India's Plan to Secure Minerals of the Future
The National Critical Mineral Mission is the Government of India's seven-year programme to make the country self-reliant in critical minerals like lithium, cobalt, nickel, graphite and rare earths. It covers the whole value chain: finding minerals, mining them, processing them, recycling them and buying mineral assets abroad. It is run by the Ministry of Mines.
The mission aims to build India's lithium supply from every possible source. New research like BARC's seawater method fits its goals on technology and processing, which the mission supports alongside mining at home and abroad.
Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and Department of Atomic Energy (DAE)
The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) is the Government of India department in charge of all things nuclear: power plants, nuclear research, nuclear fuel, uranium mining and nuclear medicine. The Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) is the top body that makes nuclear policy for the DAE. The DAE works directly under the Prime Minister. The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) in Trombay, Mumbai, is the DAE's main research centre.
The seawater lithium method came from BARC's Hyderabad centre. It shows how India's nuclear research system also supports wider goals like mineral security and clean energy.
- Developer: BARC, at its National Centre for Compositional Characterization of Materials, Hyderabad; published in the journal Talanta
- Lithium recovery from natural seawater: nearly 90%; stayed about 90% over five reuse cycles
- Solvent loss: about 10% per cycle
- Pre-treatment removes over 99% of magnesium and calcium
- Extractant: dibenzoyl methane in methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK); solvent to water ratio 0.1 (about 100 ml per litre); stripping with dilute nitric acid
- Seawater lithium: about 230 billion tonnes in total, about 0.17 mg per litre; Mg:Li ratio above 6,000
- India imports 100% of its raw lithium and battery-grade lithium-ion cells